the view from here

fall is pretty

and Jenny and baby Jaida are lovely.

I love Jaida

she kicks Jenny all day long and she makes my Jenny go…. “fwoooooooooo”when she breathes.

Also I love Jaida because she is helpful. Jenny and I are indecisive.

“Jenny, are you hungry, wanna eat?

I don’t care.

Do you want to eat Rachel?

I don’t care.

Well what do you want to eat?

I dunno. What do you want to eat Rachel?

I don’t know.

Jaaaida??? Are you hungry? Yes!!  Do you want tofu!? Yes!!”

oh Jaida, I love you!

Jenny and Jaida.

Last night was admittedly difficult. Baltimore can feel like a very lonely place and I am not particularly fond of crying.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel blessed to be here, and 92% of the time, I’m happy as a lark keeping busy with school. As you can imagine there isn’t much time carved out in my planner to fit in, “pity party 10:00 pm” Though I do manage it occasionally.

Because of my little unscheduled pity party last night,  I didn’t get enough sleep- alas, it was a long day, a great day at the hospital, but long.

This is the place in the story where the wise woman would go to bed. I can be unwise. I also can’t go to bed at 8:00. So I decided to run through my neighborhood for the first time!

I think part of my disconnectedness with Baltimore is the fact that I haven’t been able to run through it’s streets. Running through my neighborhood is how I become acclimated to my surroundings, and not being able to acclimate myself after being here for five weeks has made things quite difficult. This little hip issue of mine, has really thrown a wrench in my life, but I decided it’s been felling pretty good, so I thought I’d give it a little test run.  I walked past my gym full of safe ellipticals and stationary bikes, and walked through the gate and I ran. It was beautiful.

I think I often describe things as glorious, but truly, it was. I ran through Mt Vernon the top of this hill, past the Walter Museum, past some beautiful monuments, and past some parks with lightning bugs. Lightning bugs make me smile. They remind me of my summers in Ohio. Glorious lightning bugs. Then there were the buildings. Mt Vernon has some very beautiful historical architecture with charming mini parks in between. I ran past people dining outside in the heat of the evening while the sun was setting. They were smiling and laughing and eating delicious food. Glorious.

I stopped at the intersection with the cathedral and the Washington monument. Amazing. I will never get used to how beautiful they are.

At the intersection at one of the parks there was a boom box, yes, just like in the 80’s with the late Michael Jackon blaring and people dancing randomly. I had no idea why, so I walked up and talked to them. Great people. As much as I love dancing, I had to decline. Sweaty Rachel in sweaty running shorts, makes for an uncomfortable dancer! But anyhow, it too was glorious!

Then there was Oggie. I love Oggie. Oggie is this beautiful dog who was in the park. I petted Oggie and told the owner that she should definitly bring Oggie to the hospital to visit patients because he is such a perfect dog!

My leg managed to let me run that short distance and I was so thankful because I think I really needed to get out and explore the neighborhood when I was in my element…not hurrying to class, but peacefully, happily enjoying my surroundings while I ran through them.

But just for your peace of mind, (for those of you who watch The Wire) No worries… with my hip, I defintely will not make this a habit. I was just thankful to get out and appreciate my new home for the next year.

Oh, and my glorious little night wouldn’t be complete without telling you how I ended it by laying “illegally” next to our pool and letting my legs dangle in. There’s nothing like Sufan Stevens, and your own thoughts of contentedness to send you off to blog and bed with a smile.

goodnight.

It’s such a beautiful day here in charm city! It’s one of those blue sky, “I love this city” (even if I really don’t!) kind of days! I finally made it to the farmers market, which is at the bottom of the hill, and it was awesome! For roughly $20 I got: 10,000 lbs of kale

(haha, okay it was 1 lb. but 1 lb. of kale is more than I can eat in a week, and here’s the best thing: $1. I also got spring onions for .75, a salad mix, blueberries, strawberries,
and my personal favorite:

I LOVE cosmos! They are my favorite flower!

And did I mention that most everything I bought was organic and locally grown!? Yay for supporting local farmers!

Next week, I plan on buying some herbs and veggies that are pretty hard to kill (squash and eggplant) and start my balcony garden!

on my vegan page! pictures of …

ice cream and links to great slide shows from msnbc (where i got the butterfly picture below)

enjoy!